Convicted: Hayes guilty of second-degree murder

By Wes Wolfe / Staff writer

Published: Wednesday, February 19, 2014 at 06:53 PM.

Before sentencing, defense counsel requested mitigating factors incorporated in the sentencing process, advocating Amanda Hayes’ and Laura Ackerson’s fates could have been flipped should Grant Hayes have met one before the other.

Stephens rejected the argument outright.

Still, Amanda Hayes’ attorney Johnny Gaskins maintained Grant Hayes’ dominating influence over her life and behavior played an outsized role in how she acted during Laura Ackerson’s death and subsequent disposal of Ackerson’s remains.

“(She) never would have been in this situation if it were not for Grant Hayes,” Gaskins said.

RALEIGH – Amanda Perry Hayes’ home for the next 11-14 years will be in state prison.

A Wake County jury found her guilty of second-degree murder Wednesday, making her share responsibility with her husband, Grant Ruffin Hayes III, of killing former Kinston resident Laura Jean Ackerson in July 2011.

Grant Hayes is currently serving a sentence of life in prison without parole after a first-degree murder conviction in September.

“I think that she came across as very rehearsed and, ultimately, incredible,” Assistant District Attorney Becky Holt said following the trial.

Amanda Hayes, who regularly smiled and laughed with her attorneys during deliberations, sat with a forlorn expression as Senior Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens read out the verdict. The conviction came at about 3:45 p.m. on the third day of deliberations.

Given the chance to speak, Amanda Hayes spoke in a shaky voice while apologizing to the Ackersons and all the families involved, people involved in the trial, media members and anyone else touched by the incident.

“I didn’t think much about the apology,” Holt said. “Now, as the judge said, she had the opportunity to save Laura’s life at the very least, and she gets up here now and everybody looked through this.

“There were so many opportunities where she could have gotten help or gone to people and looked for help, and given Laura’s family a situation where they wouldn’t have had to go through this.”

Rodger Ackerson, Laura’s father, got emotional talking about her, saying an indelible memory of his is when they would go to a park together to talk, relax and watch butterflies on tree stumps.

He also mentioned the process isn’t over – a civil suit was filed at the Lenoir County Courthouse against the Hayeses alleging battery and wrongful death. Rodger Ackerson said after he filed the suit in July he intends to use any assets seized to provide for the three children involved – Grant Hayes’ and Laura Ackerson’s children, Grant IV and Gentle, and the Hayes’ child, Lilly.

The children have been in the care of Grant Hayes’ mother, Patsy, since the couple’s arrest.

Before sentencing, defense counsel requested mitigating factors incorporated in the sentencing process, advocating Amanda Hayes’ and Laura Ackerson’s fates could have been flipped should Grant Hayes have met one before the other.

Stephens rejected the argument outright.

Still, Amanda Hayes’ attorney Johnny Gaskins maintained Grant Hayes’ dominating influence over her life and behavior played an outsized role in how she acted during Laura Ackerson’s death and subsequent disposal of Ackerson’s remains.

“(She) never would have been in this situation if it were not for Grant Hayes,” Gaskins said.

After a rocky relationship with Grant Hayes – which included a sham marriage since he didn’t sign the marriage certificate – Laura Ackerson rented an apartment in Kinston and shared custody of their two children.

Heading into an August 2011 custody hearing, a state psychologist assessed Grant Hayes was mentally unstable and evidence pointed toward Laura Ackerson getting full custody of their children.

Grant and Amanda Hayes took care of the children most of the week at their Raleigh apartment and they would usually exchange the children at a gas station in Wilson. The mid-week arrangement to pick up the children in Raleigh on July 13, 2011 was unusual, and Laura Ackerson expressed her apprehension on a phone call to a friend shortly before arriving at the Hayes’ apartment.

Forensic evidence couldn’t show how the Hayeses killed Laura Ackerson because her remains were too deteriorated once found by authorities, but in some method they killed her and then dismembered her in one of the apartment’s bathrooms.

Subsequently, the couple took the remains – which were packed in coolers – to Amanda Hayes’ sister’s residence outside Richmond, Texas. The couple then disposed of them in nearby Oyster Creek.

Laura Ackerson’s disappearance was first a missing person case, but it didn’t take long for law enforcement to move on to a murder investigation, and the Hayeses were arrested in a matter of weeks.

Amanda Hayes was sentenced to just over 13 years to 16 years and six months in state prison, but she gets credit for about two years’ time served.

Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.